Which Has Worse Writing – ‘The Secret’ or ‘A New Earth’? You Be the Delete Key Awards Judge

Which has worse writing: Rhonda Byrne’s The Secret (Atria) and Eckhart Tolle’s A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose (Plume)?

Both are among the finalists for 2008 Delete Key Awards, the winners of which will be announced on Friday. And One-Minute Book Reviews welcomes comments that could help with this difficult choice. Here are some of the passages from The Secret and A New Earth that qualified them for the shortlist:

From The Secret:

“The most common thought that people hold [about fat], and I held it too, is that food was responsible for my weight gain. That is a belief that does not serve you, and in my mind now it is complete balderdash! Food is not responsible for putting on weight. It is your thought that food is responsible for putting on weight that actually has food put on weight.”

From A New Earth:

“We are in the midst of a momentous event in the evolution of human consciousness. But they won’t be talking about it in the news tonight. On our planet, and perhaps simultaneously in many parts of our galaxy and beyond, consciousness is awakening from the dream of form. This does not mean all forms (the world) are going to dissolve, although quite a few almost certainly will. It means consciousness can now begin to create form without losing itself in it. It can remain conscious of itself, even while it creates and experiences form.”

Mr. Tolle is the winner hands down. Well, he’s my sentimental favorite, anyway. Because in addition to my years as a noir con man, there existed nights in my adventurous life, that bear a startling resemblance to this passage of Mr. Tolle’s.

In fact, on one occasion, I recall,(after a particularly festive gourmet ‘dinner’), having a spectacular, kaleidoscopic vision of planet earth spinning so fast, that great big chunks of brain matter flew off and mushroomed all over the place, poisoning the atmosphere.